From the introductory to the concluding rites, the worship service celebrated last Sunday afternoon by the Rev. Robert Johnnene sure seemed like a Roman Catholic Mass.

However, visitors were probably tipped off that something was amiss because of the location of the gathering — the chapel of All Saints Episcopal Church.

Rev. Johnnene is not an ordained Roman Catholic priest, and the worshippers were members of the Independent Catholic Church of the Americas.

“We are, if you will, an alternative to the Roman church,” said Rev. Johnnene, who at one time served as an ordained deacon in the traditional Catholic Church.

Rev. Johnnene, a 77-year-old retiree who once taught at Emmanuel College and Matignon High School in Cambridge, was ordained by the Independent Catholic Church and has been holding Independent Catholic Masses in Franklin for the past couple of years. He decided to move his congregation to Worcester in part because many worshippers hail from the city, as well as Southbridge, Fitchburg and other Central Massachusetts communities.

Congregants of the new Divine Mercy Parish meet at 12:30 p.m. every other Sunday at All Saints. The Independent Catholic Church is seeking space from other local houses of worship so that Sunday Masses may be offered every week.

The services in Worcester began Sunday.

A former Roman Catholic nun also ministers to Independent Catholics in the Lunenburg area.

According to officials, the liturgies and feasts are the same in both churches. The Independent Church also incorporates the precepts of the Nicene Creed and the seven sacraments of the Roman tradition.

Church members, unlike members of most Protestant denominations, also embrace “transubstantiation,” the Roman Catholic belief that the bread and wine used in the Eucharist actually become the body and blood of Christ.

However, Independent Catholics do not recognize the infallibility of the pope and consider him “a bishop among other bishops.”

Unlike the Roman Church, the Independent Catholic Church allows for women priests, married priests and gay weddings.

“We believe that we are all God’s children,” Rev. Johnnene said. “Our church reaches out to those who feel alienated or disenfranchised from the Roman Church. These include divorced individuals and members of the gay, lesbian and transgendered communities.”

He said Independent Catholics trace their priestly line back to the apostles through the Duarte Cosa, the Church of Utrecht, Netherlands and the Greek Orthodox tradition.

“Our views are very much in line with those of the early church,” Rev. Johnnene said. “We have held onto the beautiful baby that once was the old church and we have gotten rid of all that dirty water. Truthfully, the Vatican wishes we would just disappear.”

Independent church officials refer to their members as “Catholics in exile” and view their church as a place of healing for those snubbed by the Roman church, yet who still yearn for Catholic spirituality and liturgy.

Independent churches are located in Pennsylvania, New York state and New England.

There are now about 45 members of Divine Mercy, with about 10 regularly attending services.

Most clergymen are former Roman Catholic priests or deacons. At this time, there are only a few women priests.

Independent priests do not get salaries from the church and must provide for themselves.

The bishops choose other bishops and a presiding prelate is elected to one five-year term.

Raymond L. Delisle, a spokesman for the Diocese of Worcester, said ecclesial communities that are part of the Independent Church or the American National Church have no relationship to the Roman church.

Mr. Delisle, who conferred with Msgr. F. Stephen Pedone, the judicial vicar and vicar for canonical affairs for the diocese, said that although the Independent and American churches use the same liturgical prayers, their Masses are not considered licit or valid for Roman Catholics seeking to fulfill their Sunday obligations.

Rev. Johnnene, who grew up in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood and attended Boston College High School, used to be a deacon in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, where he ministered to divorcees and members of the gay and transgendered community.

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